Please see instructor for course description.

Please see instructor for course description.

This course focuses on incorporating legal research into both practitioner's work and scholarly writing. It introduces legislative history and bill tracking, administrative law, court rules, and secondary sources such as practice guides and treatises and exposes students to unique resources and challenges presented by topical research areas. Professor Thomas’s class teaches through the lens of federal Indian and Tribal law, and allows students to deep dive into the research of those areas of law.

Indian Law

This course examines the power of the Indian tribes and the relationships among tribes, states, and the United States. Emphasis will be given to jurisdictional interfaces and conflicts among the three sovereignties.

Law of Indigenous Peoples

This course provides a historical and a contemporary perspective on the internal law of Indigenous peoples, domestically and internationally. It is not a survey of the law; rather it provides a general introduction to the types of law by which Indigenous peoples govern themselves, as well as a format to discuss the development and effect of this law. This course is intended to familiarize students not only with traditional and contemporary aspects of the internal law of tribes, but also to consider the complex interrelationship between the two. The tremendous influence exerted by outside forces on the internal law of Indigenous peoples will also be considered in a critical manner.

Student Course Work - Tribal Profile

Students will be required to consider the internal laws of a tribe selected by the student and create a profile of the tribe's laws following the course outline. It is strongly recommended that the student choose his/her own tribe or a tribe with whom the student has a working relationship with or can develop a working relationship with, including a tribe the student may work with in the future or has worked with in the past. Students will be expected to add to the course materials as designated on the course syllabus. At the end of the semester, students will exchange the information gathered with appropriate appendices, notes and comments. The purpose of this project work is to allow students to consider the internal laws of one tribe in conjunction with the broader discussion that will take place in class. Students will be expected to share their observations based on the analysis and consideration of the internal law of their selected tribe as the semester progresses.

Paper Requirement

Students will be required to produce a research paper for the course. The paper is required to be at least 20 pages in length. The paper may be used to meet the writing requirement with my prior approval. The paper may be related to the tribal profile created by the student, but may also cover an unrelated subject.

Course Materials and Recommended Books

The course materials will be provided for you through the copy center. In addition, I will provide you with a list of the books I recommend. Many are the books from which we will be using excerpts. I recommend you obtain these books through amazon.com or other such service.

Class Schedule

The syllabus covers Monday classes. Any overflow from discussions we may not have completed will continue on Thursdays. The extra hour each week will also be used to facilitate student writing of tribal profiles and profiles. I also expect to meet with each of you throughout the semester and this hour will be used for these meetings.

Please see instructor for course description.

Please see instructor for course description.

Please see instructor for course description.

Indian Water Law

Indian Water Law will explore the jurisprudential origins of the role of Indian tribes as governments, and tribal entitlements in property and land. After a review of the historical under-pinnings of tribal sovereignty, the course will explore contemporary issues confronting tribes and pueblos relating to the development and use of their waters. This aspect of the course will develop a working knowledge of the Winters doctrine, quantification of Indian water rights, and finally the potential environmental and economic development solutions that may be integrated into global water right settlements.

This class will explore the myriad of jurisdictional, regulatory and ownership issues that arise in the tribal natural and cultural resources context. It examines, among other things, the scope of tribal authority to protect and regulate natural resources on reservation lands, the role of tribes to participate in federal and state actions affecting natural and cultural resources off-reservation, and the laws and cases that have developed under this broad area of law. The themes and topics covered in this class will allow students to develop a high-level understanding of tribal natural and cultural resources law.

Economic Development in Indian Country

Native peoples' cultural survival depends upon economic development. As more and more Native Americans must leave their communities to feed their families, it is increasingly difficult to maintain and develop cultural strengths. But tribal economic development is not easy, particularly in the midst of sometimes hostile state and local actors. Moreover, done poorly, tribal economic development can destroy the very values Native peoples' seek to protect. In this class we will explore how tribes and their citizens can promote economic development while safeguarding important cultural values.

This course will be a very practical, interdisciplinary course that aims to explore economic development in Native communities from the perspective of "indigenous planning," an emerging theory of action among tribal community planners focusing on land tenure and culture as they relate to community development. Graduate students in Planning and Law will work together to understand indigenous planning and the legal framework within which development in Native communities occurs. Students will work on interdisciplinary teams, each developing a case study and explanatory materials on an economic development project in a Native community. Students will be required to prepare materials and one or more presentations to tribal groups about the issues and possible strategies to address them.

A warning: this will not be a typical, read-and-discuss, seminar. Members of the class will often be required to work independently of the professors, to seek out appropriate materials and information, and to figure out how to make their conclusions and recommendations accessible to non-lawyers. Because real people, struggling with real problems, will rely on the work produced, the expected standard will be unusually high.

Indian Civil Rights

This course analyzes the nature, scope and limitations of civil rights in Indian Country. As a dual-citizen with a distinct political relationship with a tribal government and the United States government as separate sovereigns, the individual Indian occupies a unique position in civil rights law. Students will examine the emergence of civil rights protections for individual Indians and discuss their enforcement in federal, state and tribal courts. We will identify the constitutional and statutory protections afforded to Indians and non-Indians and evaluate their impact and efficacy for Indians in state/federal and tribal forums and non-Indians in tribal courts. Materials will address the foundational questions of equal protection, due process, religious freedom, and protection from harm at the hands of the government for Indians on and off the reservation.

The course examines the power and limitations of the United States to adequately protect the civil rights of Natives under its own constitution, as well as the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 (ICRA) as a vehicle to protect the rights of individual Indians vis-a-vis their tribe. Depending on the instructor, focus areas may include federal/state/tribal Indian civil rights actions in religious freedom, education, speech, gender, identity, enrollment and status, police action, and prisons.

The class also examines the tribal role and response to ICRA, including the development of tribal infrastructures, common law and remedies to protect its citizens. Throughout the course, students will be challenged to revisit the so-called tension between individual rights and tribal collective rights and generate a discussion on tribal self-determination, good governance, and human rights.

Course Objectives/Expected Outcomes:

The goal of the course is to review civil rights in the tribal/federal context and to inquire whether federal/tribal civil rights laws work for Indian peoples. The course raises questions about civil rights protections, abuses, enforcement mechanisms, and remedies for tribal peoples. One objective of the course is to assist students in evaluating protections and remedies afforded to tribal peoples to challenge laws and governmental conduct that violate the United States Constitution or the Indian Civil Rights Act or both. Students will critically review civil rights issues in an Indian law context and develop frameworks, perspectives and responses to better protect Indian individual rights and include the tribe and tribal community interests.

Major Assignments/Method Of Evaluation & Assessment:

Evaluation

• Attendance and Participation
• Short Written Assignments on Reading Materials and Emerging Issues
• Final Oral and Written Presentation
• Or Final Examination

Indian Gaming

This course examines the various legal and political issues facing the enterprise of Indian gaming. The course materials will include the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, applicable regulations, selected gaming compacts, and the leading cases.

Indian Tax

Course Description

This course deals with problems of tribal, state, and federal taxation within Indian country. The first half of the semester involves general reading of the leading cases. The second half of the semester involves a set of transactional problems and the tax consequences that flow from those problems.

International Law and Indigenous People

This course will cover the basic international law frameworks, instruments, and emerging norms that apply to indigenous peoples. After the basic principles of international law, including customary law, the course moves to indigenous peoples as the subjects and objects of international understandings. Indigenous peoples are acting to change the established norms, going beyond the formalized states of prior relations among nations to recognizing peoples, political entities who are not just another ethnic minority. The course will cover the emerging norms and their formalization including the International Labor Conference Convention 169 (ILO 169) and the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, Draft United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN Draft Declaration). For the comparative scope, we will study laws and cases that (1) invoke the international law to protect the rights of indigenous peoples; and (2) how respective states use and do not use international law in matters involving indigenous peoples within their boundaries. The latter includes cases from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other states.

Note: Indian Law (any Indian Law course) is recommended as prior coursework. Students without any Indian Law should talk to the instructor regarding a background reading to be completed prior to the start of the course. Prior international law coursework will be helpful.

Native American Rights

The course examines legislation, regulation, treaties, and case law that govern Native American rights. Specific individual and tribal nation rights, as traditional and emerging issues, are studied in a focused manner. Besides legal materials, history as a scholarly discipline and as a legal tool will be covered.

Pueblo Indian Law

The course will cover the major developments in law and policy toward the Pueblo Indians by Spain, Mexico and the United States from a critical perspective. Students will gain a historical perspective of the impacts of law on the Pueblos and its relationship to present treatment and emerging challenges.

Tribal Courts

This course will explore the many facets of tribal courts in the United States, ranging from historical origins to the modern day operations of tribal courts. Among the topics will be the inherent power of tribal courts, judicial independence, separation of powers within tribal government, inter-tribal appellate courts, and the interplay among federal, state, and tribal courts. We will also analyze the fundamental characteristics of tribal courts and their function in the context of cutting edge cases involving jurisdictional issues, Indian civil rights, the use of tribal custom and tradition, criminal law, torts, and consumer law.

Please see instructor for course description.

With approval of the Law & Indigenous Peoples program, and meeting all UNMSOL requirements, a student and full-time law school faculty member may agree to an individual research project for one, two, or three hours of credit. It is anticipated that the student will meet with the faculty member regularly during the completion of the project to review the work being done. A written product normally is expected, but its length and content shall be determined by the supervising faculty member. It is the responsibility of the student to confer with the supervisor concerning the progress of the research before the deadline.

Enrollment for individual research is completed by registration in Individual Research and submission of the approval form for individual research of a project approved in writing by the supervising law school faculty member. This form must be submitted to the law school Assistant Dean for Registration by the end of the second week of classes in any semester.

No student may receive more than a total of six hours of individual research credit during his or her law school career, except with permission of the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.

Limitation: Individual research programs are not intended to serve as substitutes for courses given at the law school. Accordingly, credit may ordinarily not be earned for study in subjects that are covered in classes that have been, are, or will be available to students during their law school careers. This rule does not extend to the following circumstances: (a) the subject matter of the proposed program is not available in the law school curriculum, or (b) the student has registered in the course covering the subject matter, but has been excluded from it because of class size limitations and will not have another opportunity to enroll in that or another course covering the subject matter of the proposed program, or (c) the student has taken, or is taking, a survey or introductory course in the area, and wishes to do advanced work which is not made available in the curriculum.

Natural Resources: Indian Country

Course Description

This course addresses issues of ownership, regulation, and jurisdiction that arise in the unique context of the management of natural resources in Indian country. Specific topics include ownership of land and water resources on Indian reservations; land use and environmental protection in Indian country; taxation of natural resources in the reservation setting; federally reserved Indian water rights; and off-reservation Indian hunting, fishing, and gathering rights. To enroll in this course, students must have taken the basic introductory Indian Law course or have obtained special permission from the instructor.